Across the country, state departments of transportation are using a bevy of artistic approaches to promote safety, health, and beautification in communities large and small.
[Above photo by Oklahoma DOT]
For example, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation is currently seeking student participants for its “Keep Our Land Grand” poster contest. Formerly known as the “Trash Poster Contest,” the agency’s “Keep Our Land Grand” competition is split into four grade divisions – K–2nd, 3rd–5th, 6th–8th, and 9th-12th – and encourages students across the state to showcase art that reflects a “clean, scenic, and expansive Oklahoma.”
Oklahoma DOT said the deadline for contest entries is October 30 and that it will pick 14 state winners, each receiving a cash prize and recognition at a special awards celebration set for March 2027. The agency added that this contest is gaining more traction every year, with 2,200 students from almost 200 schools entering the 2025 contest.
Meanwhile, the Nevada Department of Transportation recently conducted a statewide art contest with Brewery Arts Center and Visit Carson City focused on highlighting transportation safety.
That contest encouraged students in grades K-12 to submit original, hand drawn art highlighting safe active transportation endeavors such as biking, walking, and skating. The winner, Griffin Garman, had his design made into a mural outside the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada.
“This project is about more than art,” noted Mat Morris, active transportation manager for Nevada DOT, in a statement. “Griffin’s art is vibrant and engaging and it will inspire young Nevadans and their families to safely share the road.”
And the California Department of Transportation – known as Caltrans – is using murals painted on highway rights-of-way as part of a $1.2 billion statewide effort called the Clean California endeavor.
Completed in 2024, the “South Central Strong” series of murals by artist Moses Ball is part of a $2.89 million Clean California I-110 Beautification Project that also included landscaping and fencing improvements along seven miles of the corridor.
Other state DOTs also using student-focused artistic competitions to engage young people in everything from winter operation awareness to community beautification efforts include the Missouri Department of Transportation, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, and the Michigan Department of Transportation, to name a few.
